Wednesday, October 08, 2008

We've featured some of this film in previous Hump Day Funks, but we've got it all for you now ... starting with part one.

From the liner notes — "Focused on the 1972 Stax music festival as well as the African-American community of Watts in Los Angeles and filmed by Mel Stuart, Wattstax was released into theaters in 1973. The following year of 1974 it was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Documentary Film.

"The concert, attended by over 100,000 black Americans, was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on August 20, 1972, and organized by Memphis' Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots and black power, pride, culture, tradition, and heritage struggle of African-Americans. Wattstax was seen by some as "the Afro-American answer to Woodstock." In order to enable as many members of the black community in L.A. as possible, tickets were sold for only $1.00 each. The Reverend Jesse Jackson gave the invocation, which included his "I Am - Somebody" poem, which was recited in a call and response with the assembled stadium crowd. Interspersed between songs are interviews with Richard Pryor, Ted Lange, and others who discuss the black experience in America."